Half Of Parents In the UK Bribe Their Children To Read

Many parents believe it is more difficult for their child to spend time learning to read, with all the other distractions available, than it was when they were growing up.

Almost half of parents in the UK admit resorting to bribery to get their children to read, a new survey has suggested.

Parents are using TV, the computer and sweets as incentives to encourage their youngsters to open a book, according to a poll commissioned by educationpublishing firm Pearson.

It found that both teachers and parents believe that increased access to technology is turning children off reading, with many youngsters bored by books.

The findings show that six in 10 parents (59.4 per cent) and more than eight in 10 teachers (85.4 per cent) believe children are more likely to log on to a computer than pick up a book.

More than half of parents (57.2 per cent) said they were concerned that digital media is replacing reading, while three in four (76.6 per cent) believe it is more difficult for their child to spend time learning to read, with all the other distractions available, than it was when they were growing up.

A third of parents (32.4 per cent) admit they only allow their child to watch TV or use the computer after reading, while one in 10 (9.6 per cent) gives their child treats such as sweets or chocolate. A further 5.9 per cent say they use other rewards.

Both parents and teachers (65.3 per cent and 84 per cent respectively) think children would read more if they could access some elements of their school reading programme on the computer.

And nearly nine in 10 teachers (88.7 per cent) are concerned that reading is becoming increasingly less attractive for children growing up today.

The poll also asked children for their views on reading, and found that many were more likely to play games on the computer, surf the internet or watch TV than read a book.

Almost two-thirds (61.9 per cent) said these activities were more exciting than reading, while over a third (37.3 per cent) said they wished reading school books at home was more like playing a game.

More than a fifth (22 per cent) said they found reading school books at home boring.

Many of the youngsters questioned also wanted to see more books with TV characters in them, with Doctor Who and Ben 10 and Wallace and Gromit the characters children would most like to read about.

Popular children’s characters are part of Bug Club, a new school reading programme launched today which uses modern methods to teach synthetic phonics and literacy.

The programme uses characters to engage children about reading and is the first to combine real books with an interactive online reading world. Pauline Woods, head teacher of Brookfield Infant School, which piloted Bug Club, said: “It’s fantastic to see the children automatically recognise some of the characters and this instantly switches them on to reading and makes them want to read more – this is one of the things most schools struggle with.”

The poll questioned 1,100 adults and children, including 300 primary school staff.”

Alison Kershaw, PA

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Having read the above article, it makes me wonder with increasing dread, how soon before we will see the extinction of books. What price essential education for our younger generation in this era of electronic media? Without books and the written word, civilization as we know it will rapidly disappear to my way of thinking.

Far too many parents these days through financial constraints lead extremely busy lives tending to leave their children to their own devices on the whole, or are far too tired to make time for their children, abandoning the things that are truly important in the formative years of a child’s life. So is it any wonder that today’s generation do so badly at school. Instead they watch endless hours of television, play computer games, text their friends using the abominable ‘text-speak’ alternative to correct language usage, and as a consequence leave the education system ill equipped for the real world!

Reading anything and books especially, is a fundamental to life. Without books where would we be? Nowhere!

Books record our history, capture our imagination, and are the ultimate source of all of our accumulated knowledge gleaned from centuries of thinkers, historians, poets, authors like myself, biographers, auto-biographers, explorers, novelists, playwrights, commentators – all are the movers and shakers of the world of the written word from whom we all learn.

Books give us insight into the many complex problems we all experience during our lifetimes. Books give us glimpses into other worlds, other points of view to name but two reasons for embracing the written word.

For a child to say that ‘reading a book is boring’ is to my mind the first signal to the world at large that books are destined to be consigned to the scrapheap of history within a couple of generations unless we stamp hard on this view right now.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m all in favour of advancement in technology, but not to the detriment of our libraries and bookshops and the wonderful sources of knowledge they contain – books!

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Jack Eason lived in New Zealand for forty-two years until 2000 when he returned to his birthplace in England. As far as he is concerned he will always consider himself to be a Kiwi. After military service in the 1960's, he travelled the world, visiting exotic lands and making many friends. Now in his mid-sixties he is content to write and travel via the Internet.

Besides writing novels and short stories, he contributes to his own blog “Have We Had Help?” Some of his short stories and numerous articles appear in the No: 1 online E-zine “Angie’s DIARY”. His literary interests include science fiction, history, both ancient and modern, and humorous tales like those written by his fellow writer Derek Haines, such as “HAL”. Now retired, he lives in his home town surrounded by his favourite books, ranging from historical fact to science fiction. His literary icons are J.R.R Tolkien, George Orwell, Arthur C Clarke and John Wyndham.

I do not know how things are in the UK. But I know what happens in Belgium- two children I love very much go to high school in this country. They are given LOTS of books to read. Teachers force them to read books and the children don’t like most of them. One day a teacher asked the children: “What should we do so that you read more?” And a child answered: “Please let us choose the books we read.” Unfortunately this clever remark was ignored by the teachers. They keep forcing children to read as many books as possible. Those books are added to their heavy homework and a a result, the children don’t read. Maybe a system should be developed to better educate children and young people about books and let them the freedom to choose what they would love to read. I also think that children are given too much homework and they have to learn more and more. If they had some free time, maybe they would read more. But with so much to do and so much pressure on them, there is no wonder that they prefer something more easy and entertaining to books- that they consider as one more burden added to them.